Anglers Fishing

In just two weeks, the striped-bass season will open in Maryland's portion of Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Coast.The 40-day event begins Thursday, Oct. 1, and ends Saturday, Oct. 31. However, the season will reopen during the first three weekends in November (Nov. 6-8, 13-15, and 20-22).Fishermen will be allowed a creel limit of one fish daily, measuring 18 to 36 inches. Smaller or larger rockfish must be carefully released, so it's a good idea to carry a ruler or tape measure on your boat just to be on the safe side.

Flounder fishing in Ocean City was excellent again. The ratio of keeper flounder to throwback flounder (fish under the legal size limit of 13 inches) is discouraging to some anglers, but most fishermen are pleased with the action. Some boats may go out rTC fishing and keep three out of 15 fish, while other boats boast keeping six to 15 fish.Max Angel of Paul's Tackle Shop says there are plenty of flounder being caught on the U.S. 50 bridge and also on the docks near the bridge. "We caught three legal flounder out of 20 Sunday, fishing from the Talbot Street dock.

Seven years ago on a sweltering August day in Alabama, I watched professional bass fishermen put ice in their livewells before they put an iced drink to their lips. For them, killing a fish was unthinkable, and not just because they would be penalized by Bassmaster Classic officials and jeopardize their chance to win $200,000. They also knew that sloppy fish handling would diminish their standing as sportsmen. No matter where it happens, a fish kill also is a black eye for the tournament, the sponsors, the state natural resources agency charged with protecting fish and the reputation of the body of water.

Big crowds, big fish. The 1992 trophy rockfish season got off to a rousing start last Friday.I was surprised at the number of anglers fishing on May 1. It was the largest crowd for an opening day that I can remember.Not everyone caught keeper rockfish, but enough were caught over the weekend to make fishing interesting. And, an unofficial record was set for largest rockfish caught.The beginning of the trophy rockfish season has always held a fascination for me, kind of like the opening day of deer season in Pennsylvania.

Labor Day doesn't mean the end of fishing. Some of the best offshore fishing is happening now. Anyone watching the overnight boats come into port will see there are plenty of yellowfin tuna and dolphin.We recently watched the Mud Bucket II arrive at the Talbot Street Pier with six tuna in the 40- to 60-pound range and 30 dolphin.Later we saw the Full House come in at Bahia Marina with 21 yellowfin tuna and a couple of dolphin.Anglers with smaller boats shouldn't feel left out. There is plenty of action closer in. About 5 miles off the beach, Spanish mackerel are hitting on small spoons, and the first and second lumps of the Bassgrounds are seeing false albacore, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel and even bonito.

An Ocean City charter boat breaks through the inlet on its first offshore bluefishing trip. The fog lying over the eastern seaboard makes it seem more like a day in New England than a May day in Ocean City. But the anglers do not mind; their minds are on bluefish.The captain nervously scans the bit of the horizon he can see, hoping the fish are out there.Suddenly the fog lifts, and the sight is one of wonder. Just offshore of the Five Mile Buoy, as far as the eye can see, is a huge school of bluefish boiling on the surface.

Despite last weekend's inclement weather, flounder fishing has remained good. Though Friday and Sunday were "wipeouts" due to the pouring rain, anglers caught flounder on Saturday, and then again on Monday, the day after the weather cleared, proving that the rain deterred the fishermen, but not the fish.Roy, Brian and Jeff Newman of Clarksville showed that the flounder were there last Saturday. They hugged the bulkhead at 33rd Street and came up with 21 keeper flounder up to 3 1/2 pounds.

There may be lots of "throwback" flounders in Ocean City, but there are also lots of keepers.The throwbacks under the legal limit size of 13 inches aractually a good sign, though, because it means flounder are spawning and are coming into the bays.BAlong with these smaller fish are good-sized flounder in the 2- to 2 1/2 -pound range. Barbara Glinka of Bahia Marina reported seeing some of these larger fish taken on the bay-going party boat Tortuga. She said live minnows have been the preferred bait.

Ocean City anglers have been pleasantly surprised by good catches of kingfish. Kingfish, or whiting as they are also called, are small but tasty fare.These silver-gray fish, which rarely weigh more than 1 1/2 pounds, are tough fighters for their size. When a kingfish hits the bait, you know that a fish is there.They feed close to shore on little crabs and worms that have been turned over by the waves. This is why kingfish can even be caught right in the white water.Since kings have small mouths, the hook size must also be small.

Pardon Dee Tochterman if she doesn't have time for more than a quick hello. She has worms to wash. Thousands of them. Every day from spring to late fall, Tochterman is the head worm wrangler at T.G. Tochterman & Sons, the 94-year-old tackle shop on Eastern Avenue. Her specialty is bloodworms, the nasty critters from the mud flats of Maine and Canada that squirt blood and bite. Anglers love them. But the fish of the Chesapeake Bay — stripers, spot and croaker — love them even more.